Confronting prescient issues of surrogacy and medical ethics, the acclaimed author of Birdsong and Snow Country weaves a literary thriller revolving around a megalomaniacal tech entrepreneur and a very special – and unusual – child.
A child will be born who will change everything.
When a young woman named Talissa answers an advert to carry a child, she cannot begin to imagine the consequences.
Behind the doors of the Parn Institute, a billionaire entrepreneur plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics as never before. Through a series of IVF treatments, one they hope no one ever discovers, they set in motion an experiment that is set to upend the human race as we know it.
Seth, a baby, is delivered to hopeful parents Mary and Alaric, but when his differences start to mark him out from his peers, he begins to attract unwanted attention.
The Seventh Son is a spectacular examination of what it is to be human. Sweeping between New York, London, and the Scottish Highlands, this is an extraordinary novel about unrequited love and unearned power. It asks the question: just because you can do something, does it mean you should?
Publisher: Cornerstone
ISBN: 9781529153200
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 579 g
Dimensions: 240 x 162 x 34 mm
This is a genuinely thought-provoking piece of fiction. You could devour it in a day and be wholly transported into the near future, then set it back down, dazed but enlightened, in the present day where you will see the world anew in all its wonders and frailties - The Times
A stunning novel: profoundly moving, deeply unsettling, thought-provoking and prescient but also a wonderful and life-affirming love story too - James Holland
Once I had started I literally could not stop. It really is his greatest novel yet, and of course beautifully written in that wonderful, understated style - Antony Beevor
Faulks is one of the most original and compelling writers in the world. This enthralling novel is right up there among his very finest work - Peter James
A completely fascinating and extraordinary novel. A profound and moving examination of our complex human nature - William Boyd
A beautifully written novel. On the one hand you have love, kindness, responsibility; on the other monstrous arrogance and indifference to consequences - The Scotsman
Brilliant, original and unputdownable. An absolute cracker - Peter Frankopan
Brilliant - Matthew Parker
This elegant near-future novel about a daring scientific experiment explores the evolution of consciousness… Faulks is an enviably graceful and economical writer. The early chapters of the book rip along with clarity and elegance. He conjures up the various worlds, brings the central characters vividly to life and keeps the story moving intriguingly forward - Guardian
A high-concept page-turner… Pitched somewhere between Michael Crichton and Ian McEwan, it’s a timely meditation on the whims of rich tycoon - Mail on Sunday
Sebastian Faulks’s latest novel is a tender, haunting exploration of the power of technology to alter our understanding of what it means to be human. - Jane Shilling, Daily Mail
Engaging and thought-provoking … The Seventh Son straddles two worlds, encompassing the distant past as well as the future. In so doing, Faulks asks difficult questions about who and what we are, and whether we could ever justifiably alter our genes to remove the worst of our defects - Herald
Thought-provoking and chilling - I Paper
Fabulously compelling… a provocative, poignant and disturbing examination of what it is to be human… Who says a novel of ideas can’t be as thrilling as a holiday beach read? The Birdsong author’s novels invariably examine big, bold ideas yet are beautifully told with a gossamer light touch. The Seventh Son is no exception - Express
A resonant hint of Frankenstein’s wretched monster about Seth who, functional, capable and literate as he is, stands at the book’s emotional centre, desperate for a companionship he can never find - Daily Mail
Cutting-edge science and big, meaty ideas aside, it’s the minute details of everyday life and the bursting-from-the-page characters that make this thought-provoking novel come alive - Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Times
Sebastian Faulks has long been a novelist much occupied with ideas, especially scientific and medical ones, while contriving to marry this to a strong plot and credible characters . . . gripping, horribly persuasive and sad - Allan Massie, The Scotsman
I really enjoyed this novel by Sebastian Faulks - until the end. It was thought provoking and emotional and very well written.
The story is set in the near future with several nods to advances in a transport including...
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I am not actually sure how I feel about this book. It started well as a futuristic tale of IVF and then developed into, in my opinion, a strange scientific experiment. There were issues brought up which did make you... More
I love Sebastian Faulks's writing and the plots of his novels carry you along beautifully . The themes explored here are interesting and really drew me in. Surrogacy, genetic manipulation, how it is to live in... More
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